ANOTHER California Hospital Chain Seeks Concessions from SEIU-UHW

Kaiser Permanente and Dignity Health are not the only hospital chains seeking massive concessions from SEIU-UHW.

Tasty has learned that the Daughters of Charity Health System -- which employs 3,000 of the union's members and is the fourth largest hospital chain that bargains with SEIU-UHW -- is seeking devastating cuts that are virtually identical to the ones that Dave Regan has given up to other hospital companies.

SEIU-UHW officials have been in bargaining with the company for months and the current contract is set to expire on Monday (April 30). The Daughters of Charity is the fourth largest hospital chain that bargains with SEIU-UHW.

According to an SEIU leaflet that’s pasted below, here are some of the major cuts on the bargaining table:

• Freeze workers’ wages and “step increases.”
• Eliminate workers’ defined-benefit pension plan and force them into a cheap 401(k) plan.
• Cut workers’ health insurance benefits. Workers would have to pay 25-40% of the monthly premiums for a PPO plan. And they'd have to pay 20% of the monthly premiums for an HMO plan if they don’t meet the requirements of the company’s Wellness Program.
• Eliminate protections against subcontracting workers’ jobs.
• Eliminate “successorship” protections that require a buyer to employ the current workforce if a hospital is sold.

These devastating cuts were absolutely unthinkable until Dave Regan and his East Coast trustees parachuted into California about 36 months ago. In fact, the cuts are so severe that they'd roll back hospital workers’ benefits to levels not seen since the 1960s in the San Francisco Bay Area.

So how are SEIU's officials responding? Check out this stunning leaflet that SEIU is handing out to workers (see below). The first line says: “We won’t let Daughters go broke, but we won’t go broke either.” Wait a sec! The company isn't even talking about "going broke." But SEIU is trying to plant fear in workers' minds so they'll accept the devastating concessions they plan to give to the company.

Meanwhile, SEIU is staging fake “rallies” against the cuts at the Daughters of Charity's hospitals. The purpose? In the future, when workers complain about the harsh impact of the cuts, SEIU officials will simply shrug their shoulders and say, “See? We tried. But we just couldn't stop the cuts…”

Check out this video of SEIU’s fake “rally” at St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy on April 19.

And speaking of St. Louise Hospital, check this out. The hospital is only 25 miles down the road from Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital... but soon the two hospitals will be light-years apart as far as workers’ pay and benefits.

At Salinas Valley Memorial, NUHW's 800 members waged an aggressive, year-long fight for a good contract. After impressive strike activity and the threat of an additional strike, the hospital settled a deal that preserves workers' defined-benefit pension plan, fully employer-paid family health coverage and no-subcontracting protections, and also provides wage increases that'll keep their wages higher than Kaiser’s. Quite 'A Tale of Two Hospitals.' Or better yet... "A Tale of Two Unions!"

Here's the SEIU leaflet that Tasty referred to earlier:

SEIU-UHW's Leaflet on Cuts by Daughters of Charity Health System - April 2012

Workers at California Hospital Request Election to Bolt SEIU-UHW

Ten days ago, workers at another Northern California hospital petitioned the government for an election so they can join NUHW and leave SEIU-UHW. The latest action took place at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, a 176-bed hospital that’s just south of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sources tell Tasty that ever since the trusteeship in 2009, SEIU officials have busily collected the workers’ union dues, but given workers zero support and allowed the hospital’s management to slice and dice the workers’ contract.

Workers got tired of being used like SEIU’s ATM machine and decided to join NUHW, which ran an aggressive and successful campaign at nearby Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. Workers there beat back management’s effort to cut their defined-benefit pension, health plan and other benefits… and also won pay increases that have many workers earning more than Kaiser Permanente employees. Along the way, NUHW outed the hospital’s top execs for a giant corruption scheme involving 8 separate pensions for the fat-cat executives.

Worst Day in the History of SEIU. Again.

Remember Dave Regan’s famous announcement about “the worst day in the history of SEIU?”

Well, Tasty guesses that Regan is now discussing “the second worst day in SEIU's history.” Today, the 700,000-member International Association of Machinists announced it’s throwing its support behind NUHW and will be working towards an affiliation of the two unions. Here's the press release.

So why is Regan so panicked? Well, at the same time that Regan has been handing out massive concessions to hospital companies and refusing to enforce workers' contracts, NUHW has been winning victories on the shop floor and at the bargaining table.

For example, NUHW recently completed a successful battle at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital in Northern California, where workers beat back more than 50 concessions and preserved all of their benefits -- including their defined-benefit pension and health benefits -- and also won wage increases. The success has prompted many of the hospital's remaining non-union workers to join NUHW.

The only thing that NUHW needs to continue growing is resources. And now, thanks to the Machinists, they've got them!

Ass-Kicking and Numbers-Taking

Tasty hears that NUHW's members have been kicking ass and taking numbers. On Wednesday, almost 700 NUHW members staged a one-day strike at USC University Hospital as part of their contract fight against the Los Angeles hospital. Check out NUHW’s website for media coverage and more photos.

And on Thursday, 650 NUHW members at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital won a victory when hospital execs backed down in the face of a second strike and agreed to pay workers $184,000 in wages for locking them out after a work stoppage in June. Tasty hears that Salinas workers’ fight, which grabbed national headlines, has already forced the boss to back-track big time at the bargaining table.

Finally, check out this great video from NUHW's recent statewide strike at Kaiser Permanente… the first in Kaiser's history. The video includes a bullhorn speech from Academy award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, who walked the picket line with NUHW members at Kaiser’s biggest hospital in Southern California.   Keep it up, NUHW members!

News from Strike at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital

Check out this picture of the strike line at 6:30am yesterday from CBS’s live coverage! Tasty hears it was quite a strike – giant picket lines and lots of energy.

There’s lots of news coverage, but Tasty especially likes this TV coverage on Telemundo. Ya gotta check it out! As Tasty always says, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” So even if you don’t speak Spanish, watch the images. (After the website loads, click on the little TV screen on the right side where it says “CLICK TO PLAY VIDEO” to see news for June 21.)

The first piece covers NUHW members’ strike at SVMH to protest the hospital’s plans for layoffs -- you can see footage of the picket line. Next, the TV announcer turns to a story about SEIU’s stalled contract talks in the same county, where government officials want to lay off 180 SEIU members. Take a look at the “fight-back campaign” that SEIU is waging. Quite a difference, wouldn’t ya say?

SEIU Launches Strike-Breaking Effort in Salinas

SEIU's trustees are writing a new, shameful chapter in the history of California's healthcare unions. It's called "Strikebreaking."

A few weeks ago, Tasty described how SEIU is actively assisting Kaiser in an unsuccessful effort to break strikes by thousands of NUHW members who're fighting against health and pension cuts that SEIU officials already accepted in a back-room deal.

Well, SEIU has now spread its strike-breaking operation to Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, where 700 NUHW members are planning a one-day walkout on Tuesday after the hospital said it wants to lay off about 100 staff.

When SEIU's trustees still represented Salinas Valley Memorial’s workers, SEIU let the hospital eliminate 165 jobs. SEIU organizer Lauren Sullivan even threatened workers they'd get fired if they joined workers protesting against the layoffs. She also signed secret deals to furlough workers.

After decertifying SEIU and joining NUHW, workers waged a successful fight to stop 100 additional layoffs proposed by a Chicago-based consulting firm. NUHW's campaign got national press attention, including front-page coverage in the Los Angeles Times and MSNBC, along with this sum-up piece in the Huffington Post ("Hospital Workers, Facing Layoffs, Launch Counterattack on Executives"). The hospital's CEO was forced to resign after NUHW members' exposed a multi-million-dollar executive pension scandal.

Fast forward to today. As workers prepare for their next battle against the hospital, SEIU has sent in organizers – including SEIU organizer Mauricio Vides, pictured above in a photo from the weekend – to encourage workers to scab during the strike.

So far, the only people talking to SEIU are two workers who've already announced they're gonna scab because they support the hospital’s efforts to lay off their co-workers and cut the remaining workers’ benefits (even though the hospital is making millions in profits). Sounds like they’re perfect for SEIU. Who knows... maybe Dave Regan will give them a job?

In the News

Tasty learned that, before NUHW's recent strike at Kaiser, management threatened to lock out nurses if they walked off the job. But the RNs didn't blink and walked out on strike, forcing Kaiser to back down from its threats. No lock-outs.

For those who didn't see all the TV news, check out this coverage on NBC that includes an interview with rank-and-file leader David Mallon.

And here's national coverage on MSNBC of NUHW's campaigns at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and Kaiser. Way to go NUHW!